Question about Iodophor - What is PPM?

I know I must have forgotten everything learned in high school... But, what the heck is up with these directions?

"For 12.5 ppm titratable iodine: add 1/4 oz per 2 1/2 gal water OR 1 tsp tp 1 1/2 gal water"

OR

"For 25 ppm titratable iodine: Add 1/2 oz per 2 1/2 gal water"

Google says ppm = parts per million

okay so where do I go from here.

how do i figure out what PPM i need to go by?

12.5 ppm is effective for no-rinse sanitizing. 25 ppm would potentially be in the range where you'd need to rinse.

PPM is "parts per million" and is the ratio of the iodophor to the water in a mixture.

To get to the prescribed concentration you can generally follow the directions on the bottle using common units of measure like gallons, fluid ounces or teaspoons.

To boil it down to the basics, just think of it as 1 ppm concentration equaling 1 drop of iodophor added to 999,999 drops of water.

PPM = Parts Per Million.

12.5ppm is no rinse sanitizer, sterile in 30sec, used with 1% solution
25ppm is to be used with 0.7% solution, if memory serves *not sure, I don't use this value*

Easiest way I found to make sure Idophore hits 12.5ppm is a conversion to mL, where 3mL into one US gallon is 12.5ppm (it's actually a little higher than 12.5, but it's dang close and easy to measure). Double that for 25ppm. I use a medical syringe in mL.

I rarely, if ever, need more than 2 gallons of sterilizer.

sumbrewindude said:

PPM = Parts Per Million.

12.5ppm is no rinse sanitizer, sterile in 30sec, used with 1% solution
25ppm is to be used with 0.7% solution, if memory serves *not sure, I don't use this value*

Easiest way I found to make sure Idophore hits 12.5ppm is a conversion to mL, where 3mL into one US gallon is 12.5ppm (it's actually a little higher than 12.5, but it's dang close and easy to measure). Double that for 25ppm. I use a medical syringe in mL.

I rarely, if ever, need more than 2 gallons of sterilizer.

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Be careful about following someone else's numbers. My iodaphor is significantly weaker than that out of the bottle, the mfg. recommends 3.5-4.5 grams per liter. Of course, it also costs $1.50 for half a liter, probably much less than the stuff that does the trick at 1/4 the usage rate.

Very true.

Always keep an eye on the amount of active iodine in the solution. That's what ultimately determines how much you need to add to reach the effective PPM in solution.

1.50 USD for a half liter? Yeah, your's was cheaper than my 4oz bottle

sumbrewindude said:

Very true.

Always keep an eye on the amount of active iodine in the solution. That's what ultimately determines how much you need to add to reach the effective PPM in solution.

1.50 USD for a half liter? Yeah, your's was cheaper than my 4oz bottle

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Sometimes it's nice to live in China. I buy it from an online brewshop here. It's marketed to the medical industry, but it does the trick. I still wish I could get StarSan here, though; I'd be willing to pay a premium, but it's just not available.

FatDragon said:

Sometimes it's nice to live in China. I buy it from an online brewshop here. It's marketed to the medical industry, but it does the trick. I still wish I could get StarSan here, though; I'd be willing to pay a premium, but it's just not available.

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What does the food processing industry use over there for sanitizing equipment and work areas?

It seems like the commercial food processing industry would have suppliers for these types of cleaning products, (acidic cleaners with pH modifiers)

saeroner said:

I know I must have forgotten everything learned in high school... But, what the heck is up with these directions? "For 12.5 ppm titratable iodine: add . . . 1 tsp to 1 1/2 gal water"

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This is what you want. To make your no-rinse sanitizing solution add 1 teaspoon of Iodophor to 1.5 gallons of water. I usually double it and make 3 gallons and add 2 teaspoons. I love Iodophor, it's easy to use, easy to measure, straightforward.

Why do you guys make up so much Iodophor solution? I make 2 pints in a spray bottle and spray anything I need to sanitize. The surfaces just need to be wetted, not soaked.

smyrnaquince said:

Why do you guys make up so much Iodophor solution? I make 2 pints in a spray bottle and spray anything I need to sanitize. The surfaces just need to be wetted, not soaked.

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Can't speak for the others, but I usually make 2gal (or less), where part goes into the spray bottle, some gets set aside for the airlock componets, and the rest goes into a shallow clear Rubbermaid tub that I can put spoons/tubing/filters/lids/and my 2gal bucket(carboy) upended so that the mouth's underwater once it's been sprayed down.

It's nice to have that shallow tub so I can just put used items into it as I use them, also put my hands into the bath if necessary. One less thing to think about when brewing.

I could get by with less for sure, but under a gallon is hard to cover the tubes/spoons in the tub so I'm always flipping stuff over.

Idophore's cheap enough. I'm happy with it. Someday I'll get some StarSan and try that out for a bit.

smyrnaquince said:

Why do you guys make up so much Iodophor solution? I make 2 pints in a spray bottle and spray anything I need to sanitize. The surfaces just need to be wetted, not soaked.

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Because it only takes two teaspoons to make three gallons. How do you use the spray bottle to sanitize the inside of your hoses and siphon? Or the inside of a carboy? I fill my vinator with sanitizer to sanitize the bottles I use, too, plus my bottling bucket. Or the inside of a keg and push it out through the hose and tap.

Pappers_ said:

Because it only takes two teaspoons to make three gallons. How do you use the spray bottle to sanitize the inside of your hoses and siphon? Or the inside of a carboy? I fill my vinator with sanitizer to sanitize the bottles I use, too, plus my bottling bucket. Or the inside of a keg and push it out through the hose and tap.

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Well, that is a serious answer to a serious question. My situation is different from yours. I use a bucket, not carboy. I don't syphon, I have a spout. I put a small amount of the solution into the hose and run it back and forth. I don't keg, so when bottling, I just need enough for the vinator.

Thanks for enlightening me!

smyrnaquince said:

Well, that is a serious answer to a serious question. My situation is different from yours. I use a bucket, not carboy. I don't syphon, I have a spout. I put a small amount of the solution into the hose and run it back and forth. I don't keg, so when bottling, I just need enough for the vinator.

Thanks for enlightening me!

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Hi Smyrna. In re-reading my response to your previous post, I think it reads harsh in a way that I didn't intend, maybe because of the way I used questions. One of the difficulties of forums is that intent is hard to read sometimes - my apologies if my post came off as harsh or less than convivial.

Getting back to the topic at hand - I really like Iodophor, I find it easy to use. But, I also use StarSan, just to mix things up and on the theory that because they work in different ways, using both (not at the same time, but alternating them) is safer. I also put StarSan in a spray bottle and use that over a few weeks time - I've been told or read that you can't do that Iodophor because it will lose its effectiveness.

Pappers,

No offense taken. I was serious about the "serious answer" part. You gave me points to consider that I had not though of. In my situation, making up a gallon of Iodophor solution would be a waste, but in yours it is not.

By the way, I hope you are diluting sufficiently. I used to use way to much Iodophor in solution. When I started measuring it, I was shocked by how little was really needed for the 12.5 ppm solution. I've stained a lot of stuff yellow needlessly.

I haven't used Starsan because I came into beer brewing via the cider and wine making route. Although I've been tempted to try Starsan, I've got enough Iodophor around that it will be a long time until I run out.

Another "by the way": I went to the local CVS pharmacy counter and got a free syringe that they give out for measuring medicine for babies. I use that to measure out my Iodophor and also my lactic acid when acidifying the mash. Much easier than using teaspoons.

smyrnaquince said:

By the way, I hope you are diluting sufficiently. I used to use way to much Iodophor in solution. When I started measuring it, I was shocked by how little was really needed for the 12.5 ppm solution. I've stained a lot of stuff yellow needlessly.

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The directions on the bottle say to reach 12.5 ppm use 1 teaspoon per 1.5 gallons of water, which is what I do

Another "by the way": I went to the local CVS pharmacy counter and got a free syringe that they give out for measuring medicine for babies. I use that to measure out my Iodophor and also my lactic acid when acidifying the mash. Much easier than using teaspoons.

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I use the drug store measuring device for children, too, its a tube that measures out two teaspoons when full, the kind that comes with children's pain relievers - very handy!

sumbrewindude said:

sterile in 30sec

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Careful throwing around words like sterile. It is most definitely NOT sterile, it's sanitized.

mpcluever said:

Careful throwing around words like sterile. It is most definitely NOT sterile, it's sanitized.

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Agree 100% - was caught inbetween things, sanitized is correct. I do have access to an autoclave that would fit a few barrels easily in it, but it's not in the garage and they frown on bringing items from home to put in it.